My Little Angel
by Emily in Neverland
Summary: She had caused me to swoon. She was something that no words could ever come close to saying. She sighed heavily, sleepily, and I fell. It was too late for me. I was caught by the spell she'd cast. She'd brought me down, countered my every move before I could make it. Held me fast and had obviously no intention of letting me go. She'd defeated me and all it had taken was her smile.


_Defeat_

When I'd first been invited to Akatsuki it was only Pein, Konan, Zetsu (the three who I'm fairly sure founded the group) and Kisame. At first I declined, it was just so pathetic then. More like a club in school then a serious organization. The vision of peace a fool's errand. As well as I'd no need for peace, it wasn't good for business. Though, I found it funny they weren't but a band of assassins claiming murder in the name of peace. Looking back I think I remember laughing fairly hard in their faces over such a ridiculous notion.

Not to say I thought myself higher than them. No, I was a mercenary as well at the time, probably why they assumed I would join them. Though at least I was honest about my murders, they were for personal gain and little to nothing more. This didn't dissuade the little band from occasionally coming to try and persuade me to join their cause. Maybe they weren't keen on letting a shinobi of my caliber just go, I've made quite a few enemies and even more would rather me with them than against. I found justifying it didn't make it better, the calls beginning to get more annoying and soon aggravating. What would it take to send the message?

I wasn't about to let it get in the way of business, though similar to those door to door religion sellers, they weren't going to stop me from doing other things. I continued with my contracts, it was the only real work I was cut out to do really, only kind I could complete with flying colors. I can't say I should have known better when the man approached me with a couple of targets. I can't say it was anything different than normal. Nothing about the contract raised red flags, didn't sound like a setup, didn't sound unusual. Yet it was this job, this contract that would change everything. If I'd known what it would bring, had an inkling about what was going to come from it. Even had a passing thought as to what fate had in store. I'd still do it again.

~…~

I hated it when they'd send someone else to make sure the job got done. Like they didn't trust me, even if I could justify why, it still angered me, and I was not known for my self-control. It had been some woman her name was unimportant but I'm sure I knew it once, maybe Aoi? But I don't remember anymore, nor did I ever care. She was an easily forgettable woman, the kind you always see and remember knowing at some point but never quite remembering as they are so common.

She didn't really matter, or maybe she did and I just don't care. Both very plausible, but back to the original point. It was supposed to be a simple assassination. Supposed, being the key word. Two targets, a man and his daughter, or at the time just a kid. Gender wasn't important enough to be included in the detailing. Something about them being heirs to a fortune of some kind and without the two of them the person who contracted me would get it.

Actually this was a pretty typical kind of job for me, speaks a lot about the human race doesn't it? But by that point my faith in humanity had already being rather brutally murdered so I didn't spare any thoughts to it. Aoi seemed hesitant about killing children, made me wonder where exactly my current employer found this woman. She seemed to believe all children were angels, typical of a woman I assume but not being one I wouldn't know. I wasn't fond of children. Still not actually. Can't stand to be around any of the hellspawn so it naturally didn't bother me much. The first part of this assignment went smoothly enough. Adult dead, but no sign of a child. Not even any clues as one had ever been. Aoi seemed relieved and was quick to say there much have been a miscommunication but I wasn't so sure. To be safe we asked around the small village to see what the neighbors had to say.

The woman who lived on the right said there had once been a small girl running about the yard. The man on the left said he'd see a small baby playing in the dirt and would come out of the house. So there had been a child, a toddler now it sounded like. But where had she gone? We went through the house inspecting everything and asked about the town. From what it sounded like, the man had sold the baby for personal gain. Aoi was appalled. I guess she didn't know how often that kind of thing actually happens. Really what bothered me was that the kid could be anywhere. It wasn't like being given to the other parent or a relative, it was being smuggled away and probably, even in the best case scenario, being hidden and never let out of the house or room as the case may be. As well as it was only a baby, the damned thing wouldn't know any better! I was ready to call it there. Say she was lost to the black market and call it good, but Aoi wouldn't have it. She nagged me about it, as irritating as it was I supposed she was right and had to at least put forth some effort in tracking it down.

I wonder now if luck had been on my side at the time or maybe something larger was at work. The child had been spotted in a village not far from where we started looking. Aoi had not a problem with killing everything living in the house, excepting the baby of course. Not that many were living in the house, she seemed to take this whole selling children thing on a very personal level for some crazy reason. We found the toddler in a locked room. Not surprising to me really, just as I'd predicted actually. She had been trying to peek under the door to see what all the noise was about, when I yanked the door off its hinges and threw it she stared up in awe and surprise. Aoi said something about how precious she was, clasping her hands together and rocking back and forth. Beckoning the child to her, but the girl looked at her warily. She couldn't have been older than two. Still wobbly and unbalanced and preferred to crawl when she needed to get somewhere quick.

She pushed herself to stand and looked between the two of us, trying to discern our purpose. Poor thing, I almost felt bad for her. She didn't seem scared, even when I pulled out a sharp weapon. She just stood curiously. I made a motion to move to the baby and kill her quickly and hopefully painlessly but Aoi jumped in front of me crying out 'no' as if that would actually stop me. She scooped the baby up holding her defensively.

"She's just a baby!" Aoi cried out, I scoffed angrily. What a stupid thing to have said. Had she thought I couldn't see that? Did she think that pointing out the child's age would make any difference? I didn't have a chance to retort to the ridiculous statement. The baby began whining and crying out, begging to be put down. Now that the woman had riled up the baby she was going to run. Not that she could go fast or get far on the chubby little legs but still it was an inconvenience. More so if the stupid woman chose to let her get away. However I was surprised when Aoi did put the baby down and instead of running away, the baby ran to me. Hiding behind me and holding my pants, how funny, no how strange it was she chose to hide behind me. She looked up at me with a pleading look, not a 'don't kill me' look which I was very familiar with by that time, but a 'don't let them hurt me' look. How odd it was that between myself and the woman she wasn't afraid of me but of the woman. Thinking on this odd logic has brought me to the conclusion that maybe she'd been betrayed by so many people that given the choice between the two of us she figured the best bet was the one who didn't appear as the others had.

I scooped the child up and held her. She was so small in my arms, so tiny it was eerie. For a moment I thought something might be wrong with her but no, she was just smaller than I. She lit up, smiling and happy. Her few baby teeth showing in her little happy, whatever it is that babies do when they get happy and excited. She fidgeted, trying to pull herself up, getting close to me, kissing my jaw thought she'd been aiming for my cheek but I had tried to move out of her way completely. Then she spoke in some strange baby talk that came out sounding like 'Tchu chu.' And rested her head against my shoulder, closing her eyes peacefully.

I could feel my heart, maybe all at once, melt. She was, something I can't really describe, nothing that would do it justice. Precious, adorable, sweet, all words but nothing more, nothing that could accurately say what this baby was. I felt a bit giddy, almost light headed, or maybe light hearted?

This child, this **baby** had caused me to swoon. She was precious, she was adorable, she was something that no words could ever come close to saying. She sighed heavily, sleepily, and I fell. It was too late for me. I was caught by the spell the child cast. She'd brought me down, countered my every move before I could make it. Held me fast and had obviously no intention of letting me go. She'd defeated me, and it hadn't taken some immense display of power. It hadn't taken a long forgotten forbidden jutsu. It hadn't taken some extinct or rare kekkai genkai. It had taken her smile, her trust in me to protect her, and now. What could I do?


End file.
